**Editing note: I have no idea why the squid pasta pic is so small. I didn't set it to be. But did you know that you can click on and enlarge any of these photos if you want to see more detail? I didn't until today, heh. (Thanks Asoka!)***

It's been a rough couple of days for reasons that I won't get into, but I have to say that Wasabi has more than stepped up to the plate in terms of comfort! She's still biting (of course), but she's also been curling up on my lap a lot more. This newfound cuddliness may actually be due to the fact that it's recently gotten colder here, but whatever the case, there's nothing like a kitten on your lap, purring and sucking her 'thumb' to make you feel better. Of course, having a wonderful husband who not only made dinner last night but also bought flowers and chocolate to cheer me up helps, too!

Moving on, here are some pictures from our not-wild-boar-pasta lunch on Sunday (see the previous post if you're thoroughly confused at this point).
The restaurant is part of a small complex of sorts---there are sites for car camping, a guest house if you don't like sleeping in tents, and then also this little white building on the left, where the restaurant is. The whole thing is run by a husband/wife team; he's the chef. Apparently a lot of professional chefs like to retire early to Izu and open their own pensions or restaurants: the location is gorgeous, and it's a peaceful life.

The inside of the restaurant is quite small: 3 tables in all, and they also sell lots of small hand-made goods (zakka) that you can see displayed on the far wall. It always makes me think of a cross between a log cabin and a library for some reason, but it's a very cheerful place to eat.

This is what we got instead of the wild boar pasta: Squid pasta with Japanese herbs and seaweed (on the left), and Eggplant pasta with a meaty marinara sauce.

Yuki loved both of these dishes, but I thought that the eggplant sauce was a little too...typical, I guess you'd say. My mom makes much better sauce than this, but perhaps I've just been spoiled growing up with the opportunity to eat great marinara sauce all the time. The squid pasta was delicious, although a bit salty. Overall a good meal, but I'm guessing that we'll wait until wild boar is in season before making another trip here. (And until I feel like chancing another monkey attack again)!